Text II. United States Political Parties

There are two major political parties in the United States, the Democratic party and the Republican party. These two parties win the offices of most governmental positions in local, state, and national offices, but sometimes socialist parties or other small parties win in state or local elections. Most people belong to the Democratic or Republican parties, though. Membership in these parties is not difficult to obtain; a citizen needs only to declare that s/he is a member of one of the parties when s/he votes. People can also choose not to be a member of either party.

The Democratic party is often associated with labor and a strong central government with many social programs. The Republican party likes a smaller central government and usually supports business and industry. The Republicans believe that local and state governments should be more involved in helping people than the federal government. Democrats, however, say that many states cannot help people as well as the national government. These smaller governments do not have enough money or power to do so. With these differences, people in cities and workers often vote lor the Democrats, while richer Americans and business leaders vote more often for Republicans.

In government, political parties are important, but have less power than in other countries. Although most candidates for political office are Republican or Democrat, they are mainly elected to a governmental office because they represent their "constituencies," or people who live in the area that they represent. In other words, politicians are not obliged to follow the beliefs of their political party at all times, and they will often respond to the needs and desires of the voters of their region rather than to those of any political party. Therefore, many times one Republican senator will oppose a bill proposed by another Republican senator because his constituency does not like it. Many voters also will vote for both Republicans and Democrats in an election, choosing the candidates they feel will best respond to their needs.

Voters are not the only influence on politicians, though. They are also influenced by special interest groups. These are groups that lobby politicians to make laws that will help the causes and ideas they represent. These causes can be anything: animal rights, gun-control laws, environmental protections, religious rights, etc. These groups often contribute money to politicians that help them. Many voters feel that special interest groups, and their large amounts of money, influence politicians more than voters do. For this reason, some Americans believe that special interest groups are unfair and undemocratic, leading many politicians to ignore the needs of their constituencies. In fact, there are laws controlling the amount of money that a politician can accept from a special interest group, but many politicians still depend on this money as a campaign contribution. Running for political office in the United States is very expensive because of the cost of television and newspaper advertisements, and politicians need this money to win an election. So, the special interest group argument is one that no side can effectively win; both voters and politicians are affected by the work of these groups.

If you were a politician running for office, what party (Democrat, Republican, Liberal, etc.) and special interest group (environment protection, minority rights, etc.) would you represent?